[tim gilling]

Not many people seem to have viewed our paper with NHSA about GP Commissioning (at least compared with the number of people who have viewed this main topic)

A link is here:

http://www.cfps.org.uk/scrutiny-exchange...590&start2=

By the way - I have begun to write the CfPS responses to the all the white paper documents. I doubt that proper drafts will be available much before the deadline though. I have been invited to two regional network meetings to hear people's views. If you are quick there is time to invite me to your regional network too. Thanks to the colleagues who have sent me their local responses. These discussions and sight of responses are really helpful.

[tim gilling]

The CfPS response to the health white paper will be finished this week.

It has been great to visit some of the regional networks to hear your discussions. I have also been to an LGA/DH session and to the County and Unitary scrutiny network. Over the summer I have been meeting as many stakeholders as possible to share our views on scrutiny and accountability.

It is a long response, so emerging key messages are summarised below. These 'headline' points will need to be read in conjunction with the detailed text to appreciate the context that underpins them. It is possible that the draft may change before publication, so please don't rely on these messages as CfPS 'policy'. The full response will go up on our website when the consultation period closes.

• We welcome proposals to give local people more power over their health services. Alongside freedom from central control, local accountability mechanisms should be strengthened.
• We welcome a greater role for councils to co-ordinate healthcare, social care and health improvement. Relationships between Health and Wellbeing Boards, GP Commissioning Consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board should facilitate local decision-making.
• We welcome the transfer of health improvement functions to councils. Relationships between councils and the Public Health Service should facilitate local decision-making.
• Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee functions should not be transferred to Health and Wellbeing Boards. New arrangements for planning and delivering healthcare, social care and health improvement should be reflected in existing 'health scrutiny' legislation.
• We welcome the focus on outcomes. 3 to 5 year financial allocations and outcome frameworks lasting more than 1 year would help this, backed by robust local accountability mechanisms.
• We welcome the commitment to uphold the NHS Constitution. Its values and principles can be a firm foundation in times of change.
• Transparency, inclusiveness and accountability need to be built in to every aspect of the vision for the NHS. This means embedding them in every aspect of commissioning and providing services.
• We welcome the recognition that healthcare and social care services need to be more closely aligned. It makes sense to remove barriers to integration of services.
• We welcome the commitment to explore the potential benefits of place-based budgets in relation to cross-cutting areas of health spending. This is important given the Coalitions intention to ring-fence transferred money and resources for health improvement.
• We welcome the development of LINks, enabling them to improve and extend their influence. Local Healthwatch should enable 'involvement' rather than 'representation'.
  

I thought you would like to see the emerging messages - they may inform or confirm your own responses.

[tim gilling]

Our response to the health white paper has been submitted and will appear on our website tomorrow.

The deadline for responses is today - so get a move on if you haven't put your response in yet!

Over the next few days, I will be looking to incorporate and build on our main response to relevant questions in the subsequent consultation papers.

[tim gilling]

Today (11th October) is the final day for submitting responses to the supplementary White Paper consultations.

Thanks to those of you who sent me your draft or final responses to 'Local Democratic Legitmacy' - they have helped inform our own response which will be submitted today.

[tim gilling]

The Department of Health has today (18th October) published two further consultation papers under the banner 'Liberating the NHS'. These relate to 'Greater Choice and Control' and 'Information Revolution'. The consultations run until 14th January 2011.

Copies of the papers and other information can be found here:

Information Revolution: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Li.../DH_120080

Greater Choice and Control: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Li.../DH_119651